Party fines: The low cost of doing dangerous business

As a kid in school, we once had to form groups and put on plays. Each group was also assigned tasks in a commercial aspect; lighting, sound, venue maintenance etc. My group was put in charge of ticket sales and as such, we were the only income generating group.

It was awesome to see that money flow in but it wasn’t long before we were called up to pay for the costs incurred by the other groups. We learned fairly quickly, as grade 9 kids, that as long as we could have the other groups keep their costs lower than our ticket revenue, we’d make some money…in short, we learned the costs of doing business.

The party industry has been hit with several whammies from limits to their trading hours to limits on trading activities to limits on trading stock…and that’s all when they were allowed to open. Unlike the taxi and tourism industries, the party industry saw no bail outs and was left to fend for itself.

Some of my own favourite watering holes closed despite a hard push. Perhaps had they not followed the lockdown regulations, they may be open today. Most of us know of several local instances where lockdown regulations were skirted and little, if anything, was done about it.

ALSO READ: SA’s Chinese-born MP: how surface-level xenophobia detracts from deeper concerns

So the message is pretty clear, obey the law and put your business at risk or disobey the law and…

It’s what follows “and” that was always supposed to be the threat; the threat that compelled you not to disobey the law. However, if what comes before is as dire as losing your business, what comes after needs to be colossally bad and high risk to make obeying the laws, to prevent it, more appealing…and it just isn’t so.

In the course of the lockdown, I can count the reported number of fines for throwing a party on my hands and if you believe that the kids haven’t been jamming in the shadows, in backrooms or even out in the open and on the streets en mass, you’re probably still recovering from the party you were at last night.

The latest news story involves Eastern Cape establishment Buccaneers. Those who frequent the beloved “Bucs” will be familiar with its size and popularity. So if you fill the place up and assume a mere R10 markup on each drink (it’s likely higher), selling 500 drinks will gross you R5000…the same amount for the fine paid for hosting the party.

ALSO READ: Is the LGBTQI+ Community too sensitive?

Forget about the manager’s arrest for a moment because I’m doubtful that will go anywhere but from an owner’s perspective, they’d probably pay that R5000 with a smile on their face knowing how much they sold that night. That 5k was the price to pay instead of staying closed or selling far fewer drinks to far fewer people. It was the cost of doing business and only because they got busted; something which we’ve noticed is an unusual occurrence nationally.

The cost of doing business is not foreign to the party scene. You pay more for better sound, big brand DJs, performers, good bouncers, lights; anything to make the experience more appealing even though you don’t see a direct return. Why? Because the more people at your bar, in the long run, the more money you’ll make.

And I don’t mean to take aim at Bucs. They’re merely an example because they were caught and reported but I’m not going to pretend like this isn’t happening in every city.

It’s not surprising though because what else are they supposed to do? Sit down and take the hits? As it is, it’s a struggle to pull staff UIF claims, pay rent and stay open to sell a few fish and chips. Support for the industry is terrible both from a governmental and banking perspective. The nightlife is dying and when a business owner’s back is against the wall, it’s pretty unreasonable to expect them to lie down and accept defeat, especially club owners. They’re a pretty tough breed.

ALSO READ: Should we really prioritise the Covid-19 vaccination of prisoners?

So the options are clear. If you want to shut down nightlife, you’ll need to get way more strict on the regulations so that the option for club owners is a dichotomy between risking their business and a severe fine or jail sentence. But we know that’s not going to work because there’s just no practical way of enforcing it.

If you want to shut down nightlife to prevent the spread of Covid-19, however, you’re going to have to get around a table with the clubs and find out what you’ll need to pay them to keep their doors shut.

After all, if there’s a lesson government can learn from the nightlife industry, to be truly effective in what you want to achieve, you need to pay the cost of doing business.

Richard Anthony Chemaly. Entertainment attorney, radio broadcaster and lecturer of communication ethics.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.